effort

A2 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈɛf.ɚt/ UK /ˈɛf.ət/ See IPA manual

Freq #2428

Meanings

1

noun
The physical or mental energy used to do something.

It took a lot of effort to finish the project on time.
2

noun
An attempt to do something difficult.

She made an effort to cover all the reading material.
3

noun
An organized activity aimed at achieving a goal.

The whole town joined the effort to clean up the river.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the physical or mental... exertion trouble

2 noun · an attempt to do something... attempt endeavor try

3 noun · an organized activity aimed... cause

More struggle

Word family

Forms efforts

Derived forms counterefforteffortful effortlesseffortpost

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

war effort
the combined activities and resources used to support a country during a war

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle French effort, from Old French esfort, deverbal of esforcier (“to force, exert”), from Vulgar Latin *exfortiō, from Latin ex + fortis (“strong”). Compare typologically Bulgarian усилие (usilie), Czech úsilí, Polish wysiłek, Russian уси́лие (usílije) (< Proto-Slavic *sila).

*bʰerǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European effort Middle French esfort Old French *exfortiō la-vul ex Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# effort

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈɛf.ɚt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɛf.ət/
**Frequency rank:** 2428

## Meanings
1. The physical or mental energy used to do something.
2. An attempt to do something difficult.
3. An organized activity aimed at achieving a goal.

## Examples
- It took a lot of effort to finish the project on time.
- She made an effort to cover all the reading material.
- The whole town joined the effort to clean up the river.

## Synonyms
- struggle

## Derived Forms
- countereffort
- effortful
- effortless
- effortpost

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *bʰerǵʰ-
- Root: effort
- Root: esfort
- Root: *exfortiō
- Root: ex

## Etymology
From Middle French effort, from Old French esfort, deverbal of esforcier (“to force, exert”), from Vulgar Latin *exfortiō, from Latin ex + fortis (“strong”). Compare typologically Bulgarian усилие (usilie), Czech úsilí, Polish wysiłek, Russian уси́лие (usílije) (< Proto-Slavic *sila).

## AI Etymology
Effort comes from Middle French effort, from Old French esfort, deverbal of esforcier (“to force, exert”), from Vulgar Latin *exfortiō, from Latin ex + fortis (“strong”). Compare typologically Bulgarian усилие (usilie), Czech úsilí, Polish wysiłek, Russian уси́лие (usílije) (< Proto-Slavic *sila). In current use, the main senses are “The physical or mental energy used to do something” and “An attempt to do something difficult”.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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